The Crowdfunding of eBooks: Unglue.it Formally Launches This Thursday

Now, a blog post from lets all of us know that the Unglue.it site/database/platform will formally launch in two days (Thursday, May 17, 2012) at Noon EDT but you can take a look around right now.

For those unfamiliar with GlueJar/Unglue.it here’s the bottom line direct from Eric Hellman’s Blog Post:

If you’ve not been paying attention, Unglue.it is an effort to crowd-fund creative commons ebooks. If you can find a way to cover the fixed costs, you can make the ebooks free to everyone, everywhere. Libraries, who can make possible the effective distribution of these ebooks, are tired of being shut out of popular ebook lending and need new ways forward.

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If you want, you can help us test the site. You can enter a pledge (remember, it’s real money!) and request premiums. Whether you pledge or not, you’ll end up with a real ebook with a CC BY-SA license. You can make derivatives, add content, make translations, experiment. (But you might need to wait a week or two to get it). We’ll use any cash we take in to cover some expenses (like the block of ISBNs that we bought. My lawyer says we can’t offer premiums that include alcohol, but she didn’t say I couldn’t let people hit me up for a beer.

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.